They're going to have to do something with the Referees. It's like they just picked them up off the street at the last minute: "Hey? Wanna be a referee for a month? it's for some shit called FIFA. Don't worry, we don't have any Guidelines. Do whatever the fuck ya want."

The Ivory Coast player definitely ran into Kaka...He wasn't even looking behind him and looked like he was just raising his arms to air out his pits (honestly! lol)...Kaka was definitely playing better this game versus the last one...but all this last minute bullying by the Ivory Coast was really uncalled for...I'm more than a little disgusted by the Ivory Coast players, in all honesty. Divers should be penalized...hard. *gets her paddle ready*

Also, the amount of yellow cards handed out in the Chile vs. Switzerland match was just obscene. Seriously, this needs to stop, especially since yellow cards in two consecutive games = one-game suspension.

A controversial German referee has been chosen for England's crucial third game. Wolfgang Stark apparently caused outrage, because he dished out 9 yellow cards, and 2 red cards to Chile, during their u20 match against Argentina. He lost control of the game thanks to his card-happy approach, and the Chile players actually had to be restrained and pepper-sprayed by Police because they were so pissed off! It didn't help that every time an Argentine went down like a scene from D-Day, he would instantly bring out a card for Chile.

Wolfgang Stark is seriously a really good referee. He's named best referee of the German Premier League by the players (! - not officials) a couple of times within the last years. It's still strange to put a German referee into such a match. Very unfortunate choice.

The red card in Switzerland vs. Chile was a joke. There are players on the field who play against each other in Champions League and Europe League, and this is how they play, without getting yellow or red cards right away.

The Fifa totally changed the rules concerning this obviously, and/or the chosen referees are not on the same level as the players. I'd say on international club level, we'd have about 1/2 of the cards we've seen so far. The most annoying thing is how easily matches are decided like this, especially now the match of Switzerland :(

The other issue with Stark, outside of his yellow card happy ways (or in truth, extended by them), is that the winner of this match may well end up facing Germany. A few controversial calls on cards and Engand could see top players miss that match (notably Gerrard) and pretty much half the Slovenian team.

I had one of those moments where you over think a whole bunch of stuff far too much.

Is there a more unlucky team than the Ivory Coast?

I’m an England fan… I’m well used to the term “Golden Generation” eing thrown around. I think every year since 1990 we’ve had “our est team since ‘66” and while one world cup a player will be “in his physical prime” four years later he’s “now experienced and crafty.” But Ivory Coast truly can claim to have had such a generation.

African footall has come a long way in the last few years. As the ig European teams are more and more willing to look beyond their own orders to secure talent African players started to appear… and compete… at the highest domestic levels. Starting with the legendary George Weah and moving on to today… if you took an African top 11 they wouldn’t look completely out of place against a European 11… or even a South American 11. But they could never transfer that talent into a decent run at the Word Cup; Cameroon got to the quarters in 1990 and Senegal did the same in 2002… but Senegal did so with a relatively weak set of opponents and have failed to qualify since. Hell, they’re struggling to make it into the African Cup of Nations these days.

Ivory Coast were meant to change that.

2006 they had a team that deserved a great run. Their manager was nothing to write home about (unless you enjoy writing home about how poor-to-average your manager is) but they did have Dindane, Eboue, Drogba, the Toure brothers and Boka. Then they got drew in the Group of Death with Argentina and the Netherlands. They played well and were never outclassed… but lost against the big two and never got out of the group stage.

Roll on 2010.

Now equipped with a good manager used to managing at the top level (both with national and domestic teams). They had the core of that 2006 team but now combined with Zokora and Kalou. Things were looking good for a decent run.

And now they’ve got Portugal and Brazil to get through.

It still wasn’t over. Portugal aren’t what they were. Despite having the incredible talents of Ronaldo on call they’re not the team that Figo led. Ivory Coast led y the talent of Drogba… who, let us remember scored more goals than either Rooney or Torres this season… they could perfectly well get a win.

And then Drogba got injured.

The Portugal game never came to life, spluttering out into a 0-0 draw. They lost to Brazil as realistically they knew they probably would and now that Portugal have put 7 past North Korea Ivory Coast stand next to no chance… they have to win y 9 and hope Portugal lose to the Brazilians. Sven showed his limitations as a manager… unable to really use impact substitutes to turn a game that is getting away from them.

And once more the quest for an African team to really grasp a world cup passes us y. Drogba will be 36 by the time another world cup rolls round… far past his best.

Has anyone heard what happened in the US game yesterday? From what I got on the news this morning, There was something with a US player getting grappled, a goal that was waved off, the US getting a penalty, and FIFA not wanting to talk about it?

Has anyone heard what happened in the US game yesterday? From what I got on the news this morning, There was something with a US player getting grappled, a goal that was waved off, the US getting a penalty, and FIFA not wanting to talk about it?

US game was on Friday. Went 2 nil down and looked out of it, Donovon scored a great goal to ring them back into it, got a deserved late equaliser and then had a clean goal ruled out for fouling... if anything US players were getting fouled rather than the other way round. Considering how poor... and critical... the reffing has been over the tournament, when FIFA went into PR mode trying to salvage the situation but didn't allow questions on the most controversial events and, worst of all, made a proclamation along the lines of "Ref's don't explain their decisions, just make them and they're the right decisions and you have to stop whining and deal with it..."

Has anyone heard what happened in the US game yesterday? From what I got on the news this morning, There was something with a US player getting grappled, a goal that was waved off, the US getting a penalty, and FIFA not wanting to talk about it?

Yes, from the replays, it is obvious that not only was Maurice Edu not offsides (which was the initial reason for the nullification, I think), but that there were multiple Slovenian players grabbing American players, hanging on to their jerseys, pretty much everything but bear-hugging them. The point being that, if there was any kind of penalty to be called, it should have been on Slovenia, not the US. It was obvious to anyone watching the game that the referee had pretty much lost control of the players by that point (usually you'll see a ref administer stern vocal warnings to the players in the penalty box before the corner kick).

This normally wouldn't have been a big deal, but it changed what should have been a 3-2 U.S. comeback victory into a 2-2 tie, which is huge in World Cup. It may mean the difference between the Americans advancing to the next round or not.

However, I've taken a philosophical approach to the whole thing. Yes, we should have beat Slovenia, but we also should have lost to England. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you get unlucky. That's football for you. And the thing with World Cup is, once the ref has made his decision, rightly or wrongly, that's pretty much it. The Australians have had two players now sent off for red cards for really trivial infractions, putting them at a huge disadvantage. It's not something that FIFA will change anytime soon, so they have to stand behind their refs.

After watching the Spain v. Honduras and Portugal v. North Korea today, I was impressed by the following:1. The talent of David Villa. That guy is in-fucking-credible. His first goal was a thing of pure beauty, sailing past two defenders and the goalie. 2. The teamwork of Portugal, setting each other up, placing the ball in perfect position. Well, with the exception of You Know Who. My roommate set me up perfectly: he said, "wait until you you see Ronaldo's goal--it's the best goal I've ever seen." So I sat, expecting to see a phenomenal goal out of Big Baby, and when it came, looked like something out of a bloopers reel. You could practically hear the March of the Clowns soundtrack in the background. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard.

Today's games were very good...and very entertaining. I was cheering for Spain as though they were Brazil! (ok, mostly b/c there isn't a bad looking guy amongst the lot & I wanted to see them advance, but seriously, Villa was astounding!) haha...

Looking forward to tomorrow's lineup...Mexico v. Uruguay should be a great game...does anyone even care about France anymore?? LOL...I'm torn between watching Greece v. Argentina or Nigeria v. S.Korea...I'm predicting a lot of channel hopping for me! haha

Similarly, I hope Italy gets knocked out of the first round. That would be awesome. I'm hoping against hope South Africa manages to squeeze into the elimination round, but it's probably not going to happen.

Why is everyone so much against C. Ronaldo? You may not like him personally, but you have to recognise his skills: His one of the three best soccer players in this world. He doesn't have a single weakness when it comes to soccer. He might dive a bit, but on his level, a lot of offensive players with his speed do. It's gotten part of the game.

ManU wouldn't have won so many titles if it wasn't for Ronaldo in the past years. I don't like him personally much either, but as a soccer player, there's no doubts he's one of the greatest ever.

North Korea was a nice opponent for Portugal and their skills. But, it's a typical thing for Portugal to have a few good matches until losing in the final rounds. I'm not too worried about them.

And of course I care about France, are you kidding? This game will be way exciting! Who will insult who? Will there be fights? With players from South Africa, or in the team? Does the team even leave the bus to play? Will there be staff members? Who is the traitor? And where are the prostitutes? Questions, questions.

And of course I care about France, are you kidding? This game will be way exciting! Who will insult who? Will there be fights? With players from South Africa, or in the team? Does the team even leave the bus to play? Will there be staff members? Who is the traitor? And where are the prostitutes? Questions, questions.

Ehm, before anything worries I make bad jokes involving prostitutes (I do often, but not this time): There had been a big scandal about the French national team in April involving prostitutes. Apparently, some members of the team had some little, uhm, celebrations with prostitutes after matches. One of the prostitutes was a minor at that point (17).

France rocks in so many ways, I really hope they advance to the finals now. This team promises a whole lot of fun. But even if they are thrown out today, the many things happening around them are way much more interesting than 99% of the rest of the World Cup

Why is everyone so much against C. Ronaldo? You may not like him personally, but you have to recognise his skills: His one of the three best soccer players in this world. He doesn't have a single weakness when it comes to soccer. He might dive a bit, but on his level, a lot of offensive players with his speed do. It's gotten part of the game.

ManU wouldn't have won so many titles if it wasn't for Ronaldo in the past years. I don't like him personally much either, but as a soccer player, there's no doubts he's one of the greatest ever.

North Korea was a nice opponent for Portugal and their skills. But, it's a typical thing for Portugal to have a few good matches until losing in the final rounds. I'm not too worried about them.

And of course I care about France, are you kidding? This game will be way exciting! Who will insult who? Will there be fights? With players from South Africa, or in the team? Does the team even leave the bus to play? Will there be staff members? Who is the traitor? And where are the prostitutes? Questions, questions.